MyFootballClub.com close to buying first team

It is the website that promised to revolutionise football management. For thousands dismayed at the prospect of foreign fat cats buying their clubs, or sick of managers who waste millions in the transfer market, MyFootballClub.com suggested a novel way of empowering fans and banishing the Board of Governors forever.

Now, as donations to the pioneering site flood in every day and the total raised has reportedly smashed the £500,000 mark, the day when that vision becomes reality is imminent.

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Set up by former football journalist Will Brooks, the aim is to buy a professional football club, probably at League Two or Conference level, and give fans a say in the running of the club's affairs in return for an annual contribution of £35. Of that fee, £27.50 goes into the takeover fund, and £7.50 to cover administrative costs.

In return for payment, each fan becomes a stakeholder in the club, and can use the website to vote on all decisions affecting its future, from team selection and new signings to kit design and beer options in the club bar. Only decisions made in the hours before a match, or between the first and final whistles, are beyond the vote. It's a heady mix of sport, entrepreneurship, and democracy. And, as far as its creator is concerned, it could change football forever.

"I've created a vehicle that will pool fans' opinions, passion and wealth and turn fantasy football into reality," Mr Brooks said. "This is an unprecedented opportunity for fans to get closer to football than ever before - to have, at long, long last, a say in what goes on on and off the field".

Mr Brooks has no qualms about describing his project an ethical mission. "My starting point is a firm belief in the wisdom of crowds. It's the fans that have the club's best interests at heart: so why shouldn't they run it?" he asked.

More than 53,000 people declared an interest in MyFootballClub when the website went live on 26 April. Brooks is coy about how much he has raised so far, but he is thought to have amassed more than £500,000 already, only a fortnight after beginning the fundraising stage of his mission. In the first 24 hours, £250,000 was raised: if all 53,000 pay, he will have £1.4m with which to approach a club.

Four clubs have approached Brooks to declare an interest in discussing a possible takeover.

The MyFootballClub website allows members to vote on which club they'd most like to buy. A top 40 is being constantly updated: it currently ranges from Leeds United (the current No 1) to Macclesfield Town (languishing at the bottom).

But many club chairmen are sceptical about Mr Brooks' mission. One of them is Lee Power, the Chairman of Conference side Cambridge United, who are third on the members' list of most desired clubs on the website.

"It's just not workable to have 53,000 fans make decisions on behalf of a club," he said. "Most will have allegiances to other clubs. What's to stop our rivals from buying a significant stake in our club, and acting with vested interests?"

Power considers it "very unlikely" that Cambridge Utd will be sold to MyFootballClub members. "You can't just whisk up genuine commitment by charging £35," he said. "Fifty-three thousand new fans would be great, but are these people going to buy football kits, match programmes, hot dogs? That's what a club needs, not internet voting."

That scepticism is shared by one of British sport's most notorious entrepreneurs, Barry Hearn. Mr Hearn bought League One side Leyton Orient in 1995 when they were in serious financial difficulty. Now they rank number 24 on the list of most desired clubs. "The idea is totally impractical," said Mr Hearn. "One-and-a-half million won't get you far in football these days."

"As far as I'm concerned, when you're running a football club, the ideal size of the ruling committee is one. I don't buy this mass voting nonsense; democracy and football don't mix."